Peanut Allergies and College Baseball

I don't have any direct experience with peanut allergies, but I did go through college as a dyslexic student.  While the college coach wouldn't so much have an "interest" in if a player had an allergy, as an employee of the school who could be sued for violating the American's with Disability Act, I think he will care very much, and so will the disability office on campus, every school has one.

If you want my opinion, here it is, a bit blunt.  College coaches will care less about your sons allergies.  In college they expect the student to be able to manage his own life.  If he has an allergy they expect him to be able to manage it.  You maybe able to work with the athletic trainer to make sure the trainers assigned to his team know about his allergy and that they have an epi-pen with them, and are trained on its use.  But other then that I would not expect much from the coaches.

I ran track in college, back in the 80s.  We were provided sack lunches for our road trips. I got so sick of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every weekend that its now lower on my list of foods to eat.  If this is the case at your sons school then it would be up to him to coordinate with the cafeteria to make sure his dietary restrictions were met.  I would not expect the cafeteria to change the menu for everyone though.

Don't know if you are familiar with the AviQ pens or not. They talk the user through the procedure as it is applied. He should have a couple of those with him in a separate, conspicuous, brightly colored case or stuff sack. He should try to establish some trusted partners who he can train to medicate him in an emergency. Maybe the trainers and coaches. He should talk to the coach and the disability office to see what precautions can be taken and what the coach is willing/required to do.

He needs to understand that he should not be embarrassed or reluctant to address this matter openly. It is a very common problem now and every school will have to deal with it at some point.

Good luck,

Ted

He should be open with coaches, and go to a school/program that will help him.  And I don't mean pens, but ban nuts from dugout/locker room.  People die from anaphylaxis reactions.

Our son (2015 and now at D1) was diagnosed with peanut allergy at a very young age.  We've only had 2 episodes where he accidentally ingested (both my fault BTW........Reeces pieces looked a lot like Halloween Skittles and a protein bar that mentioned "nuts" but not peanuts").

Anyway, school was very proactive when they were told, as were all his roommates.

2015's reactions have been mild (throwing up, coughing, etc), but believe it is because we had an epipen handy......which we've provided to the school trainer.

Good luck. 

It is difficult to completely manage exposure which is why the pens are important. You only need one person to make a peanut free zone a non peanut free zone. I agree with you, that bans should be enacted just not always enforceable.

russinfortworth,

Did you implement the pens with his mild reactions, or were they mild on their own?

I am curious because we have a child with some peanut allergy but we have never had to implement the epipen yet. I am always questioning our strategy though.

Thanks,

Ted

+1

-2  Some people have severe nut allergies.  Leave your Payday in the truck.  They aren't sneezing b/c they ate a can of nuts, their airways constrict and they can't breathe b/c someone else did and then shook their hand.

Talking with the coaches and preparing contingency plans is managing it. Keeping quiet about it and hoping nothing happens may endanger the player and also put the programs at risk. This is a widespread condition with varying severity that can change over time. The problem will present itself at every university. They have to deliver plans to help manage it whether you think so or not.

All things that the son can manage on his own. 

BBalldad, I don't mind the blunt answers at all...but you are dead wrong on your last statement.

I don't so much worry about my son being able to "manage" his allergies, as he already does that.  What worries me is the last part of your post where you discussed the weekly PB&Js on the trips.  I am sure he would be able to get an alternative meal...but it is the incidental exposure that scares me.  It literally takes just a trace amount for him to have a potentially serious reaction (i.e. somebody has a PB&J, gets a little PB on their hand, touches a bus seat, my son touches that spot, rubs an eye...eats something, etc....boom > reaction.)

As parents, it is these incidental exposures that are really tough on us.  He/we can "control" most everything else (what he eats, what we eat, etc.)...but you can't (and really shouldn't) control what others do.  He carries handi-wipes and hand sanitizer in his allergy bag and lets everyone know he has it, and several of his teammates have asked him for some on occasion (which we really appreciate)...but there are those times when the kids forget or don't even think about it and we have had problems.

So to say that a person with a peanut (or other serious) allergy can manage what others do is not accurate.

For example, this past spring season....before HS game, kids all go their separate ways to get dinner before the game.  When they return they are hanging out, getting ready to warm up.  One of my son's teammates had gotten a pouch of Big League Chew and offered my son a "wad".  My son asked..."Did you eat any peanuts or peanut butter?"  The kid replied "no"...because he hadn't.  However, he had gone to a Chinese restaurant for dinner that used a higher quality of peanut oil to prepare the food (oddly, peanut oil of lower quality isn't an issue.)  His teammate apparently had some oil residue on his hands and it transferred to the gum in the pouch...my son grabbed some gum and 10 minutes later he was injecting himself with an epipen and waiting on the ambulance.  Now, we have since said...no eating anything at all while at the field in an effort to combat this.  However, as you can see in this case my son was trying to be vigilant and careful...and he still got himself in trouble.  Aside from having him wash his hands every two minutes to wash off anything he may have come into contact with, I don't really see how you combat this incidental exposure.

Just a point of clarification, it was i who talked about the pb&j sandwiches not bballdad.  I am bowing out of this discussion as I can only see it developing into an argument.

Gotcha bballdad...I did combine two different posts there....and I misunderstood what you meant when you said "he can manage it on his own"  Sorry about that.

I totally agree, it will be up to him to communicate all of this when he gets to school..and for the rest of his adult life for that matter. He has to learn to be his own advocate (if that's the right word here.)

What I was looking for when I started this thread was perhaps some advice from those who had been through this before, and some avenues they used to work around their son's allergies while playing ball in college.  There have been some really good replies (yours included) and I appreciate the info on people he needs to make sure he talks with when he gets to school.

Sorry, I'm having an aggravating day here but gesh people, it's like there is a competition on this board to jump on anyone who implies they as a parent would talk to a coach, faster you jump, the more points you get! 

Okay, everyone knows that college kids have to address problems themselves, that ballplayers from age 9 and up need to address things themselves, but this poor dad just wanted to know how college coaches have responded to peanut allergy issues, if anyone has had a problem, that's it people.

If he rephrased it to say "Have any of you had son's who had to address allergy issues with their college coach?  And what has been their typical response?"...would anyone have any insight then?

Joes87...my apologies if I ran you off here.  It wasn't my intent at all.  I appreciated your reply and your honesty in giving me that information...that was exactly what I was looking for when I started this thread.

I inadvertently misunderstood bballman's comment.  As a parent of a kid with allergies, we often hear that it is somehow our kids "fault" he had a reaction or has allergies...or that they aren't really that big of a deal...and we ( I ) tend to get a little over-sensitive about the topic.  I kind of jumped the gun when I responded to him without really thinking about what he meant there.

Thanks for your reply earlier...and if you have any other info, I would appreciate it.

No prob.

Only the one time with the protein bar.  He ate 1/2 of it before he realized (this was just this past spring).  The other time he only ate 1 piece of candy and didn't like it.  Gave him Benadryl and he was ok.  He can be around peanuts, peanut butter, etc, just can not injest.

All the more reason that this is ultimately going to be the responsibility of your son. No shaking hands. Always wipe surfaces, always wash his hands, etc.

You can't expect others to take on this responsibility.

This is something he will have to do for his entire college experience, plus the rest of his life. It really has nothing to do with baseball, per se.

The only thing the team (and his roommates, and his teachers) can really help you do is have epipens nearby, and try their best (they will likely fail) at keeping PB away from him.

I would wonder what happens if he has a reaction on a team bus, in the middle of nowhere.  You need to decide if this is a situation that you want to be faced with. (I am facing somewhat similar health questions myself at the moment)